Practice Makes Perfect
by Tcstewart22
Summary: Set a few months after season five. Andy and Sam make a very important purchase. Fluff, fluff, fluff.


Practice Makes Perfect

Andy was so excited she was vibrating in her seat. Sam looked over from the driver's seat of his truck and smiled.

"Will you calm down!" he laughed, "I don't think I've ever seen you this excited and it's beginning to hurt my ego."

Andy turned to face him and smiled like a five year old on Christmas morning, "Just hurry! I don't want to miss her!" She turned to face the front again, still a massive ball of energy.

Sam just continued to laugh, "I'm sure she'll wait all day if need be, but since we're barely five minutes late, we should be good."

He pulled into the parking lot of the designated meeting spot. Seeing the white Toyota Camry, he parked beside it and hopped out. Of course Andy had jumped out before he had even come to a complete stop. He shook his head smiling. He would never understand how excited she could get by the smallest things. Of course this was not a small thing he thought, walking around the truck and toward Andy and the lady she was currently shaking hands with.

"Sam this is Linda. Linda this is my boyfriend Sam." Andy hurriedly introduced them, all the while bouncing on her toes.

After pleasantries were made Linda opened her back door, "well let me introduce you to who you really came to see."

She pulled a box closer to the edge of the seat where Andy and Sam could see inside. Peeking out of the box were four little cocker spaniel puppies.

Sam jumped back a little when he heard a high-pitched squeal come from Andy.

"OH MY GOD! THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL!" Andy shrieked, "Sam! Look, aren't they adorable.

Sam put a hand on her back trying to calm her down a little and smiled. He couldn't help but think that if their kids got even a little bit of Andy's enthusiasm and energy he was going to be in all kinds of trouble. Also, since he seemed incapable of saying no to Andy, he couldn't imagine saying no to a miniature version of her.

Theses were the kind of thoughts he had on a regular basis now, a future with Andy, surrounded by dark haired kids. And every time the thought occurred to him it still amazed him and occasionally brought him to his knees. But he knew he wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything in his life.

Linda had handed Andy one of the puppies; a little white one with light tan spots and golden ears. He smiled reaching out to pet the puppy then noticed something on its bottom.

He looked up at Linda, "Is that a diaper?" he asked a little shocked. He had never seen a diaper on a dog before. Linda laughed saying they all had one on and it just helped protect her car.

"They sell dog diapers?" Andy asked, thinking that was the one thing she hadn't seen while at the pet store that morning.

"Actually they do" Linda replied pulling out a diaper from the bag in her back seat, "But these are Huggies, you know the kind you find in the baby isle. They're able to wear them because of the docked tails." She held out the tiny diaper for them to inspect.

Sam just shook his head and looked into the box picking up a black puppy that was twice the size of the one Andy was holding.

"Now this is a puppy!" the chubby pup wiggled in his hands. Sam held him up to Andy smiling proudly until suddenly the dog leapt from his hands and went sailing toward the ground. Sam managed to catch the puppy by a hind leg right before he hit the pavement. He looked up and saw the disapproving eyes of both Andy and Linda and sat the dog back in the box smiling nervously.

"Well why don't you pick one out. Which one will it be?" Sam asked, looking at Andy and backing away from the box of puppies when Linda continued to glare at him.

Andy smiled up at him, cuddling with the same puppy she had been holding all along. "I want this one! She's so tiny and sweet and she's been so good just sitting in my arms. I think she's scared; she's shaking a little. Or maybe she's cold. Are you cold?" Andy cooed at the puppy and continued to ramble on talking mostly to the dog now.

Realizing he was smiling like an idiot he turned to Linda, "Ok, apparently we want that one. How much?"

Linda explained that the male pups were four hundred dollars but the females were five hundred.

"FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS?" Sam turned toward Andy and saw the smile fall from her face. He quickly turned back to Linda pulling out his wallet.

"Right. Five hundred dollars." He smiled at Andy and seeing her face light up again he turned back to Linda. "I assume you take cash?" he mocked letting the woman know he thought this was a racket.

But Linda just smiled and said of course. Five hundred dollars for something that he continually saw roaming the streets. This was definitely a racket he thought sliding his wallet back into his pocket.

But when he turned and saw how happy Andy was, rocking the puppy back and forth while whispering in its ears, he knew it was worth it. Oh yeah, he was definitely in trouble when they had kids.

It had been two weeks since they brought the puppy home. They had finally settled on a name, deciding Boo wasn't appropriate since it was a female. Andy had explained that they needed to have a first and middle name so they could register her. They went back and forth a few times until finally settling on Penelope McNally Swarek, aka Penny.

Penny had proven to be a very intelligent little puppy. At eight weeks Andy had already taught her to fetch. Of course the pink bone was almost as big as Penny was and every time she tried to bring it back she would pass by them because she couldn't see over the bone.

Andy was also teaching her to sit and shake hands. The only thing the puppy seemed incapable of learning was how to bark. She could whine but even then it was very quite. A very worried Andy had even taken her to the vet to get checked out. The doctor told her that barking for dogs was like learning to talk for children and everyone was different and progressed at their own speed.

Sam of course didn't give it a second thought and was enjoying the peace and quite while he could. Until one evening he came home and heard barking from the front door. He walked into the living room and was greeted by the sight of Andy on all fours with her ass stuck high up in the air and her head level with the dogs. He leaned against the wall enjoying the view until he heard the barking again and realized it was coming from Andy.

"What the hell are you doing?" Andy jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around.

"I'm trying to teach her to bark Sam. The vet said it might help if she hears other dogs barking.

"Ohhh, Okayyy." Sam nodded his head, "So did you forget to mention you were part canine or….?" Andy just gave him a dirty look and turned back toward the puppy.

"There aren't any other puppies around and she's too small yet to take to the dog park. This is the best I could do for now."

Andy turned back toward the dog and barked again. The puppy jumped a little and continued to stare at her confused. Sam knew better than to point out how futile this was so he just shook his head and went for a beer, listening to Andy bark at their dog.

To be perfectly honest Sam was becoming a little jealous of the dog, though he would never admit it. Penny was the first thing Andy ran to when she came home and would spend hours with her in the evenings teaching her new tricks and trying to teach her how to bark. He drew the line one night though when Andy came to bed with her.

"NO! No way Andy, she sleeps in her cage in the kitchen. We already agreed on this." No way was he going to let a puppy take over their bed too.

Andy just smiled and crawled into bed and onto his lap, straddling him. "She just wanted to say goodnight Sam." She held the puppy out toward him.

"If you're waiting for me to kiss that dog goodnight your nuts." He laughed, as he saw a scowl cross her face.

"Don't call her a dog!" Andy tried to move away from Sam but he held her tight against him.

"Andy, it is a dog. You do know that right?" he pretended to look at her with a worried expression as she reached out and smacked the side of his head.

"She's our baby Sam." She gave him a mischievous grin, "At least the only one we have for now."

At that his grip loosened and Andy crawled off the bed laughing. Turning toward him on her way out she raised one of Penny's tiny paws and waved. "Say goodnight to daddy." She grinned as she backed out the door, her laugh echoing down the hall.

Sam knew she was teasing him but he kind of liked the thought. When Andy came back to bed she gave him a confused look.

"What's with the goofy smile?" she asked, crawling into the bed and back onto his lap.

He pulled her close and nuzzled against her neck. "Just thinking about that future baby you were promising me."

"What?" Andy looked at him a little shocked. "You serious? You really want a baby?"

"You don't?" Sam felt his heart rate speed up a little and not in a good way. He had just assumed they would eventually have kids but they hadn't really ever talked about it.

"Um, well yeah. I just didn't want to freak you out by bringing it up too soon. We haven't even talked about marriage and now we're discussing kids." She laughed at how un-normal their relationship continued to be. But it worked so hey, no complaints.

He smiled knowing the goofy grin was back but he couldn't help it.

"You wanna marry me McNally?" He grinned at her with that smirk she knew all to well.

Andy just laughed and rolled her eyes trying to climb off him. But he rolled her over and kissed her deeply before she had a chance to react.

He leaned in real close nuzzling her neck and whispered, "I'll marry you Andy. And I'll have babies with you. And I'll spend the rest of my life with you if you'll let me."

He looked down at her and saw she had tears in her eyes. He rubbed his nose against hers. "You're all I've ever wanted Andy."

She pulled him in for a kiss, "You're all I want to Sam. You know that right?"

He smiled, wiping a tear off her cheek, "Yeah, I know."


End file.
